Presently, when harvesting cotton, in many instances, it is desirable to harvest as many rows of cotton plants as possible during a pass of a harvesting machine through a field of cotton plants. It is now common for as many as 6 rows of plants to be simultaneously picked from both sides. Typically, a cotton harvesting machine includes a plurality of side-by-side ducts or pipes extending upwardly from the picker units of the harvesting apparatus to an inlet opening of a cotton receiver. Some cotton receivers are typically baskets and may, or may not, include apparatus for packaging or compacting cotton received therein to some extent. The ducts extending in side-by-side relation from the picker units are typically positioned to propel flows of cotton and air through the inlet opening which typically extends across all or much of the sideward extent of the upper front end of the cotton receiver. The flows of air from the ducts are typically strong enough to carry at least some of the cotton through the upper region of the receiver into a rear region of the interior thereof. The receiver can include cotton compacting and distributing apparatus therein, such as a frame carrying one or more augers rotatable in one or both rotational directions for distributing the cotton within a lower region of the receiver, to the extent desired or required.
Typically, when a cotton receiver is filled to its capacity with cotton, or at other times, the receiver can be unloaded. Some cotton receivers are raised in their entirety for unloading. For others, only the front end of the receiver is raised, so at to tilt the receiver for unloading. In both instances, the front end of the receiver is required to be moved away from the cotton ducts, which remain in their operational positions. Additionally, many cotton receivers are telescopically extended upwardly or otherwise enlarged for use, and are telescopically retracted or collapsed for travel over public roads and storage. When the cotton receiver is telescopically retracted or collapsed in a transport and storage mode, the ducts are also typically telescopically retracted or collapsed to a reduced height.
To ensure that all or substantially all of the cotton conveyed through the ducts flows into the cotton receiver, the cotton receiver typically includes one or more cover or hood members moved to, or placed in, a deployed position above the inlet openings of the cotton receiver and the discharge outlets of the ducts, for directing or guiding the air and cotton flows from the discharge outlets into the inlet openings. Presently, known embodiments of such cover and hood members are hingedly mounted to the receiver above the inlet opening, so as to be movable between a stored position typically located in or over the inlet opening so as to allow the upper portion of the receiver to be telescopically retracted into a lower portion of the receiver, and the deployed position extending forwardly in relation to the inlet opening.
The cotton receivers of at least some known harvesting machines are moved between their telescopically retracted and extended positions automatically using fluid cylinders provided for that purpose. The cotton conveying ducts of those machines are manually extended and retracted, but this is typically a relatively easy task as the ducts are readily accessible from a service platform of the harvesting machine. The hood or cover member or members are also presently manually deployed and stored, but this is a more difficult and time consuming task, and is undesirable, due to the location of the hood or cover member or members on the upper region of the cotton receiver.
Thus, what is sought is a device or apparatus for directing a flow of air and cotton from a cotton conveyor duct of a cotton harvester into a cotton receiver, which can be more advantageously deployed and stored, and which overcomes one or more of the problems and shortcomings set forth above.